1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to online sales and marketing, and, more specifically, to the dispensing of rebates and coupons to customers on the Internet and to the redemption of the rebates and coupons for customers by a system for online sales during online purchase on the Internet.
2. Related Art
Coupons have been traditionally dispensed by manufacturers and retailers to customers by means of inserts in newspapers. Some manufacturers also mail coupons to customers. Rebates have traditionally been offered by manufacturers to push the volume of sales of specific products. Such products are typically those for which the manufacturers have excess inventories or those that are being phased out.
Of late Internet based sales have increased in volume. Some manufacturers have made it possible for a potential customer to obtain rebate forms or coupons from their web site. These rebate or coupons can be downloaded and printed by customers to be redeemed in traditional neighborhood stores.
In general, there are several problems associated with dispensing and redeeming coupons in online sales and marketing activities. These include the frequent inability of a customer to use a coupon placed by an advertiser or merchant in a newspaper or brochure during the activity of online product purchase due to the remoteness of the merchant or vendor. That is because traditional coupon delivery and redeeming methods do not integrate well with Internet based sales where a customer visits a vendor or merchant's web site rather than a store for purchases. The customer and the vendor are also typically located in different cities and it is not possible to redeem traditional coupons in such a scenario.
These problems are also true for manufacturer's rebates. Such rebates are typically dispensed in traditional neighborhood stores and are to be mailed back to manufacturers with receipts for the related purchases. Customer's seldom redeem them as redemption requires making a photocopy of their receipts and mailing the receipts along with the rebates to the manufacturer and waiting a few weeks for a check from the manufacturer.
Sellers often provide coupons and rebates as an incentive to promote sales of specific products. A manufacturer attempts to identify the amount and quantity of each rebate or coupon and the time period during which such offer will be valid. Such rebates and coupons are typically delivered in a paper form to distributors and retailers. Distributors receiving such rebates and coupons further forward the rebates and coupons to their associated retailers.
To use the rebates and coupons online, the retailer often has to modify the product database, web server content, and, possibly, its sales application. This burden along with the burden of having to collect from the manufacturer dissuades the retailer from participating in the rebate and coupon process. Without knowing whether or to what extent the retailers will participate, a manufacturer may under or overestimate the number or amount of rebates or coupon offerings.
An overestimation may, for example, cause a manufacturer to over sell a product beyond an inventory. Similarly, an underestimation may fail to move an inventory before the value of such inventory plummets. Complicating this problem, a manufacturer by law must honor any coupon or rebate once distributed at least for a period of time identified on the rebate or coupon.
In addition to the difficulties associated with integrating rebates and coupons into their online sales systems, retailers have monetary disincentives to do so. In particular, a retailer typically purchases goods expecting a certain profit margin upon selling such goods. To apply a manufacturer's coupon or rebate at the time of the sale requires the retailer to seek at least a part, if not all of their profit from the manufacturer 30-90 days after making the sale.
Some online retailers offer their own “coupons and rebates”, hoping to capture the attention of price conscience buyers. Such online retailers who post their own coupons or rebates are typically suspect in creating a facade pricing scheme.
Because retailers have little incentive to provide support for manufacturer's coupons and rebates on-line, buyers are left with coupon rebate options. In some cases, buyers may still use such coupons and rebates but must do so via post (snail mail) and subsequently receive the redemption value via return post.
After receiving a product, if a buyer is interested in redeeming a coupon or rebate and/or registering the product, for technical support or update reasons, the buyer must typically fill out a form, which they mail via post to the manufacturer. Upon receipt, the manufacturer will have to read the handwriting of the buyer to add the buyer's information from the form to their database. If the good purchased is software, only registration information may be gathered during installation. The buyer is still forced to interact with the manufacturer via post for coupons or rebates. The entire process fails if the buyer misplaces the receipt or the coupon or rebate or fails to file the same within a required timeframe. Upon receipt of such information the manufacturer must determine whether or not to honor a coupon or rebate. To do so, they must determine whether the coupon or rebate applies to a specific good that has been sold to the specific buyer. Because this process is difficult, it is not only time consuming but is also subject to fraud. Such fraud may involve a purported buyer operating independently, a buyer and retailer operating together, or a retailer operating independently.
To combat fraud, manufacturers apply complicated approaches to attempt to link the coupon or rebate to the specific good, often confusing and disappointing buyers and retailers. For example, a fifteen digit model number may appear to correspond to a coupon being offered and causing a sale even though one digit may be off and only identified after a manufacturer's rejection has been received. If this happens to a retailer, the retailer may lose money on the sale of the item. If it happens to the buyer, the buyer may be angry with the retailer and/or the manufacturer and avoid their businesses in the future.
With large distributed channels, manufacturers typically do not know the identity of their retailers. This further complicates the rollout of coupon or rebate offering.
Many other problems and disadvantages associated with prior systems will become apparent to one of skill in the art upon review of such prior systems and in light of the teachings herein.